I am 35 y.o., and have successfully gained my life back after having a severe mental breakdown due to trauma. My symptoms included frequent panic attacks, depersonalization episodes, the feeling that I was dead, that life was a set-up, that I was trapped in a system I had no control over, and that I was trapped in my body. I felt I wanted to die, but I was terrified of dying too. I was afraid of everything, and everything seemed overwhelming. I could not tell what was “real” and what was my imagination or dreams. I felt that I would never be ok again. Even though initially I could not leave my bed, except to go to my doctor’s appointments, because of my anxiety, I began to feel better and to have hope soon after I began treatment.

Before my breakdown, for three years, I lived abroad in a war-zone, where I had a very stressful job and life conditions. On top of this, I had travel to other continents frequently, financial problems, and sudden heartbreaking issues regarding my partner. I got to the point where my mind and my body could no longer function, and I broke-down.

The first 5 days of this experience seemed like the end of my life and my visit to hell. My family helped look for medical treatment, and my best friend referred me to Dr. Lee. I was so scared! I did not want to take prescription medications and was afraid that I was going to end-up in a psychiatric hospital or a prison. Her support changed my life!

Dr. Lee’s warmth and presence made me feel that I could trust her, and most importantly her confidence in the effectiveness of energy and orthomolecular medicine, her ability to explain it to me, and her believe in my own ability to heal, allowed me to recover. Dr. Lee’s holistic approach worked at many levels. The physical, through a series of supplements to detox and strengthen my body. The emotional, through cutting-edge techniques that helped me let go of the emotional trauma I was carrying. The mental through psychotherapy. And, the energetic through breathing techniques and energy healing.

Dr. Lee helped me to re-connect to my vitality–the energy in my life. Without having to take any prescription medications, in a matter of 6 months I was able to be on my own outside my flat going on a train to another city. I was still afraid but I was able to try it, to trust life and live life. By the 9th month, I was able to fully go back to a new job and to continue building a fulfilled life.

Dr. Lee is one of the best doctors and healers I have ever met. I highly recommend her and wish that our healthcare system could offer more of this type of holistic care that includes the physical, mental, emotional and energetic aspects of our being.

— L.J.

Holistic Healing from Depersonalization and Panic Attacks

My son started experiencing depersonalization episodes and panic attacks around age 14. It took him about a year to communicate what was happening to him. After a couple of sessions with a psychologist, she recommended psychiatric treatment for him, which probably meant treatment with antipsychotic medication or the like. Unable to face the possibility of having such a young person on that type of medication, I started exploring possibilities and ran into Dr. Lee.

Dr. Lee prescribed a natural holistic approach that included changes in diet (mainly avoiding wheat, dairy, refined sugar, and corn oil), natural supplements and energy medicine. After less than six months, my son’s symptoms improved substantially going from dozens of episodes a day to a few, milder, more manageable episodes a week. Side effects of these treatment included losing more than 65 pounds (without dieting), stabilizing after reaching his ideal weight, increased frequency in smiles and eye contact and increased frequency in prizes and awards won at school. Another benefit was, that since all the family went on the same diet, his brother’s acne disappeared once he stopped taking dairy.

Dr. Lee takes the time and effort to connect to the patient and family and is always researching and looking for methods to improve her rates of success and the well being of her patients. She has a very innovative, heartfelt approach that works amazingly well. Moreover, my son adores her and loves to go to her visits.

— C.S.

Coming Off Abilify Comfortably and Safely at Age 59

I was first prescribed anti-depressants in the early 90’s. In 1998 I had my first psychotic episode and was put on Lithium. The method of the psychiatrist I was seeing was to listen to me talk for an hour once a month with practically no input from him. After 10 years of this, I decided that it wasn’t doing me any good, so I started seeing a psychiatrist for a few minutes once a month who tracked my medication. I was hospitalized a number of times because I abruptly stopped taking the medication and became psychotic. I was taken off Lithium and switched to Abilify to avoid a similar fate to that of my husband, who died from kidney failure, which was the result of years of taking gout medication.

One of the possible side effects of Abilify is diabetes, and I was also distressed at the weight gain. I began to have an increasing interest in alternative medicine and searched the Internet to find out if there was anything that would allow me to get off prescription medications. I found the True Hope site and read a few books on the use of supplements to successfully treat bipolar disorder. This was exciting to me and I knew that I wanted to try it.

Fortunately, I discovered Dr. Lee. She thought that I was a long shot at the age of 59, with a long history of being on antipsychotics, but she agreed to accept me for treatment. Energy medicine was a totally new concept to me and at first I was skeptical, but I decided to give it a try.

In contrast to my previous experiences, Dr, Lee does a careful assessment of specific goals to work towards and issues which need to be addressed. She uses various techniques to deal with stressors and a supplement regimen tailored to the individual patient, proceeding at a safe pace of decreasing prescription medication while adding supplements with quantifiable results.

Since it takes the optimal functioning of both mind and body to achieve a successful outcome, indices of this are monitored and recorded during each visit. Avoiding allergens, wheat, refined white sugar and dairy products is necessary as is eliminating toxins and keeping hydrated. Regular exercise is also helpful.

Dr. Lee stays abreast of the latest research findings, and articles of interest and shares this information with her patients. She has an encyclopedic knowledge of body systems and the efficacy of hundreds of nutritional supplements and vitamins. I had a brief bout of insomnia near the end of the withdrawal process, which resolved quickly with a more graduated taper of the medication and some added supplements and energy work. I have been drug free for many months, am doing well, and much happier. In addition, even though I have been eating a lot more, I have not returned to my previous weight.

— R.M.

Drug Shortage Unravels Lives: Alternative Approaches in Demand

Hi Dr Lee,

I read the following article and thought about you. http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/15/9472468-lingering-shortage-of-adhd-drugs-unravels-lives

One of my motivations during our process was the realization that I needed (or should) keep a separate “stash” of Effexor at work in case of an emergency (i.e. earthquake, terrorist incident, etc). It really hit home that it was necessary for me to have that stuff to be able to function even in case of an emergency.

When I read the article, I am sure there are many, many people who need your services to end their dependency on these pharmaceutical drugs. It is sad! Based on my experiences this year and last year I have come to understand that my nature is to question and research and learn. I have also come to realize that many people do not do this and go with the flow, or what they have been told.

This is all to say that I hope you can get the word out that there is an alternative. They do not have to be dependent on the whims of a pharmaceutical company and their profit margin. Many people may not seek you out because they do not know … what they do not know. They are gong with the flow.

I hope you get the message out! It is a critically important one for so many people.

Thank you for all you do!

— P.W.

Healing from Abuse and PTSD

I am a physicist (PhD), who worked with an abusive and narcissistic co-worker and former supervisor for six years. The stress within the work environment finally lead to burn-out with psychotic episodes, which hospitalized me for a week. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, and depression, but my instincts told me that it was not correct and the medication I was put on would not help me. I was very lucky to find Dr. Lee through a psychotherapist, and to finally receive proper treatment. Only one session of psychotherapy, an initial meeting with Dr. Lee where she taught me techniques to control mental stress and anxiety, and one day on the supplements she prescribed, removed my auditory hallucinations, and reduced the anxiety and fear of this co-worker that I had suffered from, to manageable levels. Dr. Lee is very open to collaboration with other holistic service providers, and I have now built a team with Dr. Lee as the psychiatrist, Christine Marr LMFT as my psychotherapist, and the George Washington Center for Integrative Medicine as my primary care office, to support my healing from this trauma. The whole team works together beautifully. Their treatments support each other, and everyone is open to discussing my needs in light of which treatment would support me best, and who would be the best resource to get help with a particular need. The expertise of Dr. Lee in holistic psychiatry is beautifully supported by the knowledge of physiology and controls of the nervous system available at the Center for Integrative Medicine. Dr. Lee is very compassionate and devoted to her work, and helps her patients as real persons with all aspects of their health and life. Her methods and treatments are incredibly effective, and she has an innate sense for what her patients need, when deciding on the treatment. Because of her schooling in both western medicine and alternative treatments, she is a fantastic interpreter of the strange experiences related to mental disorders, putting these experiences into a language that makes sense, and can be understood by traditional doctors. This has helped me to communicate my issues to the people at my work, in the right way, to allow me keep my job and negotiate a better deal for myself, working in a separate setting from this abuser. Thank you, Dr. Lee.

— S.S.

Successful Antipsychotic (Abilify) Withdrawal After 22 Years of Schizophrenia

I first saw Dr. Alice Lee on April 20, 2010. I was 51 years old. At the time, I was not feeling well, and I had been living with a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia for about 22 years. I had been on and off Stelazine, Risperdal, and Abilify for all of those years. While I was on these medications, I was on a wheat-free and gluten-free diet, and I exercised regularly. While I was able to wean myself down to 2.5 mg of Abilify every three days, when I first started working with her, I was experiencing malaise, fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, and agitation. I also struggled with constant worries and daily auditory hallucinations filled with negative and derogatory comments. These auditory hallucinations had never lessened despite the use of antipsychotics.

When I conducted my initial phone interview with Dr. Lee, she was very reluctant to take me on as a new patient, due to the fact that I had been on an antipsychotic medication for 22 years. I pleaded with Dr. Lee to take me on as a new patient, as I wanted very badly to get off my medication, and I told her that I had nothing to lose by implementing her integrative and holistic approach. With much hesitation, Dr. Lee agreed to take me on as a new patient.

I began seeing Dr. Lee once a week. While Dr. Lee practiced energy medicine, which I’ve heard about, but knew little, I was willing to try this approach. When Dr. Lee did her energy work on me, I was able to feel very relaxed, could sense the energy flowing, and even saw bright colors. In addition to the energy work, I began taking a lot of nutritional supplements, consisting of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids, anti-oxidants, and other supports. I started feeling much better with the energy medicine and supplements within one month. I started tapering down on Abilify on June 2, 2010, and with the initial help of a small dosage of liquid Haldol, I was able to stop Abilify by June 26, 2010, much to my relief and satisfaction. By August 18, 2010 I was able to completely get off Haldol, which was a great day for me.

I have been off all antipsychotic medications since August 18, 2010, and I feel so exhilarated and satisfied to be off these antipsychotics after so many years of using them. While I was tapering off of my medication, I was able to continue my full time job, and for the first time since my illness, my auditory hallucinations gradually decreased in severity and eventually stopped altogether. I continued taking a regimen of supplements, did my daily energy work, and met with Dr. Lee once a month.

However, my father had a stroke and became very ill in June, 2011. This was a very stressful time for me, and I was unhappy with my father’s declining health. However, Dr. Lee intervened and increased the amount of supplements I was taking, and I started to feel better right away. I was able to handle the stress of my father’s illness and later death without a need for antipsychotic medications.

I am very grateful for Dr. Lee’s medical expertise and guidance. I believe very strongly in her holistic approach and consider my ability to get off of antipsychotics after all these years as priceless. I am also very appreciative and grateful for being able to remain stable despite all the stressors in my life. Dr. Lee’s knowledge of energy medicine and supplements is excellent. It has been well worth my time and effort to commute from Baltimore to Rockville to meet my medical and psychiatric needs.

— R.E.

Getting off Risperidone (Risperdal) Successfully

I have struggled with having a mental illness since my teenage years. Currently I am 51 years old. Initially I was diagnosed with depression, but even with medications, my illness worsened, and in time I was having bipolar mood swings and psychotic symptoms.

My illness turned my life upside down and estranged me from my family and friends. In August, 2010, my husband called Dr. Alice Lee for help, because I was deteriorating after trying to get off my medications (Lithium, Zyprexa, Prozac, and Lipitor) through “True Hope”, a nutritional company, that had success in using their nutritional products, E. M. Power Plus and other supplements, to help bipolar patients get off their medications long distance. Initially, I had done well, but in time, my mental health deteriorated to the point that I was almost in need of being hospitalized. I was psychotic and unable to sleep. I was also very irritable and paranoid of everyone around me.

Dr. Lee told me to get back on some medication to restabilize me. I was started on Risperdal, and it helped me enough to prevent the need to rehospitalize me. Then she started me on a nutritional regimen and did a lot of energy medicine work on me. Over time, my sleep, mood, and cognitive functions improved, and I was able to start weaning down on my Risperdal. As I came down on Risperdal, I transitioned to a small dosage of liquid Haldol. Eventually, I was able to get off of the Haldol completely as well.

I have been off all medications since May, 2011. I have been stable and able to sleep normally. My relationships with my family has been improving, and I am able to be an active part of my family again. After struggling with mental illness for the past 34 years, it has been wonderful to get my life back again.

— S.L.

Medication Withdrawal: A CEO’s Personal Journey of Recovery

As a 46 year old male business executive, I found myself in a situation that I never thought could possibly happen to me. I had spent the majority of my professional career in the health care field. After several promotions, I found myself at the top of the career ladder. I was a CEO. After approximately two years in the role, I found it increasingly more difficult to handle stressful situations and to speak in public. These were things that I had done for years and was always able to handle with little difficulty. Hesitantly, I mentioned these difficulties to my primary care physician. It was recommended that I try an SSRI (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor) to see if it would help. I was prescribed two or three different medications until I found one that did not cause me nausea. I remained on the medication for a year or so. I began to feel tired and did not believe the medication was of much help. I was tapered off of the medication with few side effects.

Approximately two years later, I found that I was again having difficulty and felt ‘down.’ Again, I was prescribed an antidepressant. I took the medication for about 17 months. I began to find it increasingly difficult to wake up in the morning, even after a full 8 hours of sleep. I decided to discontinue the medication. Over a three to four week period, I was fully titrated off of the medication. This was followed by a period of unclear thinking and just not ‘feeling right.’ After two months had passed, I began having what I thought were panic attacks. I had never experienced a panic attack in the past. I could not explain why I was suddenly having panic attacks. The episodes were soon followed by feelings that were very difficult to describe. I began having feelings of unreality, heart palpitations, a tingling sensation in my head, and severe nausea. Once again, I was prescribed a medication for anxiety and a new antidepressant. Over a period of one week, these medications brought no relief of my symptoms. After receiving no help from my physician, I had a family member take me to the emergency department. After evaluation, I was admitted to a mental health facility. I remained there for four days during which time an antipsychotic medication was prescribed. The medication gave me temporary relief, but at the cost of feeling mentally dull, depressed, and chronically fatigued.

The next two years of my life and the condition of my health can only be described as pure misery. Again, I was experiencing unpleasant side effects from the medications and tried to discontinue them. I found that it became impossible to stop the medication. Each attempt was accompanied by feelings of panic, fear, a tingling sensation in my head, and severe nausea. My doctor’s only intervention was to prescribe yet another medication. I had tried numerous medications and soon none brought relief of my symptoms. My life was literally falling apart. I found it very difficult to continue my daily routine. Work became increasingly difficult, and I had to quit my job. I didn’t enjoy time with my family, nor did my family enjoy spending time with me. Again, I was hospitalized and yet another medication was prescribed. I was so miserable that I did not want to continue living. When I attempted to gradually lower the antipsychotic on my own, I became very stiff, to the point that I could hardly move. I literally had no quality of life, and I saw no way out.

After almost giving up hope I began searching the internet for help. Traditional medicine only provided me with yet another medication which was damaging to my health. I finally found information about withdrawal side effects. For the first time, I found information that closely matched my experiences. Finally I was able to feel some level of hope for my future. I had to find the best way to discontinue the medications, and do so in a way that did not cause me further harm. By my good fortune, I found Dr. Alice Lee. Through working with Dr. Lee, I was able to successfully discontinue the medication and resume my life, though the journey was not easy. Although I continued to struggle with some withdrawal side effects, they were lessened enough with the additional nutritional supplements and energy medicine that I was able to persevere with my goal of coming off the antipsychotic medication completely and to remain off. As time progressed, and I followed Dr. Lee’s advice, I gradually began to feel relief. Initially, I had brief periods of ‘clearing.’ I was suddenly beginning to feel like myself once again.

It has now been one year since I stopped taking my antipsychotic medication under Dr. Lee’s care (9/2008 was the last dosage of medication noted in my records). I am working now as an Executive Director of a company and can testify that through natural, wholesome supplementation, energy medicine, accompanied with lots of patience, hope and persistence, a complete and full recovery is possible.

— K.B.

Bipolar But Not Budging: A Reluctant Patient’s Recovery Story

I was a straight ‘A’ student in middle and high school. I was on the Honor Roll almost every month; the school gave me a lot of awards and even gave me a scholarship to continue my studies. But after I had graduated from high school in August 2002 that was when my bipolar problem started to show more and more.

I was less busy and just had one part-time job because by this time the symptoms of bipolar were showing more and my health was deteriorating rapidly. I became emotionally weak, depressed, with mood swings, angry, mad, sad, manic, feeling evil, and so on. The days passed and I became worse and worse. I could not even deal with a part-time job; it was too much for me. My every day life was such a disaster that I was living dead. I couldn’t remember what I did an hour before.

My parents were desperate because they did not know what was happening to me or why I was so changed from a happy focused, straight ‘A’ student to a living dead person so suddenly. I failed most of my classes as well and I was about to lose my scholarship. I got to a point that I could not take anymore because I was so ill and the scary thing was that nobody knew a lot of what was going on with me because I did not tell anybody, not even my parents so they were not able to help nor was I in condition to ask for help or to find help for myself. So I had decided to kill myself.

A day or two before I had bought a couple of bottles of Bayer, Aspirin and Tylenol and one night I started taking a lot of pills, drinking from one bottle to the next and the next until I just could not drink them anymore and fell asleep. The next morning I was very weak and vomiting blood. So I was taken to the emergency room and from there they send me to Potomac Ridge because they diagnosed me with bipolar. A few days later they released me with the condition that I had to seek more professional help because they thought that I was doing very well; but I was just acting to make them think that I was doing wonderfully and on the contrary, I was horrible.

So, I was forced by my stepmother to see a therapist and I did for about two or three months then I quit. So after a few days I became worse and worse again. At this time I was even seeing my dead mother’s ghost; I was manic and angry. Sometimes I would leave the house barefoot and did not know where I was going. I was like something was controlling me. It felt like I was inside of a body that was making all the decisions and I just could not do anything about it. I would also panic about anything, and when I became manic I was so strong that my father had to hold me. I am only 108 lbs and he was 200-210 lbs. My family had to call the police to come and take me to the crisis center to get me sedated but the worse part of this was that I did not want to get psychiatric help or let any body help me. Because I thought ‘I am okay or I am not ill’ even though I could see that I was miserable and was causing my loved ones misery. Finally, my stepmother found a psychiatrist and she decided to take me to her for treatment, but I did not want nor was ready to be helped. But she took me to see Dr. Lee and when I saw her I instantly hated her with all my heart. So I did not cooperate with her.

At that time I was not ready to get treated. I hated all adults, and she was one. So my stepmother kept taking me and telling me that she was going to continue taking me but it was useless because I was not cooperating in any way, so she gave up and let me be. Finally my stepmother stopped trying to get help for me or even helping me. She gave me all the medications that I was supposed to be taking to monitor them myself. She also stopped forcing me to go to the doctor. Dr. Lee also told me that she couldn’t treat me if I was not going to cooperate. She also said that she would not treat me anymore until I made the decision to follow her directions and take my nutritional supplements. For a couple of months I was barely surviving, but I had isolated myself almost completely from the world.

By that time, I was back in college and that was the first year in college. I went from being a straight ‘A’ student to failing most of my classes to finally giving up completely. I would take the capsules of supplements, then stop taking them after I felt better. Each time I would slip back into my mania and depression. I wanted to give up but I had no energy to help myself or to ask for help. Finally, I knew that it was time to help myself. I had the desire to be well because I was tired of being ill and so lonely. Then, I decided to give a try and go back to Dr. Lee.

Since I had that desire to get help, because nobody was helping me, and I am one of those people that had to do everything by myself, I decided to give it a try. I opened up to her; I trusted her, followed her instructions and even started to like her. Once I took that step I was able to give the second step and the third and so on. Before coming back to see her I was having from 2 to 3 manic episodes a week, I could not go to school, work or do anything else other than be in my room doing nothing. Now I am fully cured from bipolar from just following her therapy and taking my vitamins.

It is such a relief to be able to socialize better, do better in school, and be able to work. It’s a relief to my parents that I will be okay that they don’t have to worry about me all the time thinking that I may try to hurt myself or become sick while in public. That is one of the best things that I thank myself for going back to see Dr. Lee-. Now I take little vitamins and go to see her less and less and my parents greatly appreciate what a change the doctor has helped me get. With the EFT and breathing exercises and energy work and with her effort I now feel like I am a new person, as if I was never sick.

Now I have a full time job, go to college more than half-time, I have a wonderful relationship with my parents and I don’t have any bipolar symptoms at all. I am so happy and glad that I returned for my treatment because I haven’t had a manic attack for months and months. I like that because my parents don’t have to call the big guy (police) to come and get me. I also love the fact that I have become physically, emotionally, and psychologically healthy and strong and this allows me to handle any huge or small challenge. That is the kind of freedom that I have been able to get from the treatment. But I just want to make clear a point about the treatment.

I love Dr. Lee’s form of providing her treatment not only because she is a professional, but she is always finding new ways to help her patients. Different forms of treatments work for each individual since we all need different treatment even though many of us have the same illness.

Joy From Knowing a Boy

Justin writes: “I am an 11 year old boy in the 5th grade. I started with Dr. Lee-Bloem when I was five years old and on lots of medication. Back then I didn’t feel well, and I was tired all the time. I have been taking vitamins and minerals since I was six years old, and I feel healthy and better.”

In a few weeks Justin will be moving away to another state, starting a new life, and meeting new friends. As I think of Justin, I remember the experiences Justin, his mother, and I have been through.

I met Justin before I ever used nutritional supplements or heard the word “orthomolecular.” He had been on medications, including antipsychotics since two and a half years old. By the time he came to see me, he had been on medications for three of his five years. His mood cycled several times a day, sometimes several times an hour. He was aggressive and irritable. His mother could not discipline him.

We used medications, but they did not resolve his symptoms. Then in 2002, we began using nutritional supplements. We took him off his medications, and over time he blossomed. Things continued to improve as his mother began to change his diet, taking out the sugar that made his mood swings worse. The daily complaints from school stopped. During his first year on supplements, I remember how happy I was that he received an award from school for “Most Improved Student.” Then he began to get A’s and B’s in his classes. Then his mother reported that he was testing above grade level in many subject areas.

Even when he was ill he had a love for animals and insects. Now his gift with the sciences and his love of nature is leading him towards a desire to help the environment and the creatures that live in it.

Sure, he still rolls his eyes about having to take his supplements, but he likes me. And he takes his supplements and likes to chat with me about how the energy healing feels when he receives it. I only see him rarely now when his mother brings him in to see me for a “check up.”

I will really miss his handsome face, clear eyes, and ready smile. When I think of him, I realize that one life is all it takes to make my work worthwhile.

Renal Recovery: The Road to Rejuvenation

I am so grateful for Dr. Alice Lee and what she is doing for the field of psychiatry and her patients. Being a physician myself and having been hospitalized as well as medicated for a number of diagnoses, including lupus-related organic brain disorder, bipolar disorder, and psychosis, I applaud Dr. Lee for her courage and willingness to use alternative and holistic approaches to healing with the goal of healing patients versus status quo symptomatic treatment.

My story began when I was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus at 13 years of age. My daily medications included high-dose corticosteroids that altered my appearance, causing weight gain and a cushingnoid appearance as well as emotional lability and mood swings. At 15 years, I woke up in the hospital after an episode of what my doctors called psychosis and central nervous system involvement possibly spurred on by acute renal failure. When I was in medical school, I developed joint pain, and my rheumatologist from the United States put me on the highest dose of oral corticosteroids to date. I subsequently started hearing voices. I was immediately hospitalized and given the diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

My experiences with traditional psychiatry were generally negative until I met with Dr. Lee. I immediately liked Dr. Lee-Bloem because she listened to me and heard what I was saying. Being from Taiwan, she could relate with what it was like to have Chinese parents and the emotional issues involved (though I was born in the US, my family was from Taiwan). Unlike other traditional psychiatrists, she had other tools for healing in her armamentarium than just psychotropic medications.

Under Dr. Lee’s treatment approach and supplemental regimen, I felt my health and energy improve. However, in May 2007, I went to Taiwan for several weeks. When I came back, my health deteriorated between follow-up sessions, and I was hospitalized once again for a “psychotic episode,” which was likely associated with a deterioration of my renal function during my trip to Taiwan. Unfortunately Dr. Lee was not notified of my condition until after I already had been admitted to the hospital by my family. I was in the hospital for three weeks, receiving antipsychotic medications, and when I left, I was a sedated mess with dry mouth, constipation, and foggy, unfocused thinking.

After being discharged, I started seeing Dr. Lee weekly. She put me back on my nutriceuticals and slowly weaned me off the medications to minimize withdrawal. I also began using her Infinite Intention CD on a regular basis. The positive affirmations from her CD were effective in facilitating my healing process.

It is now the middle of October, 2007, five months after my hospitalization, and I am feeling like my old self again. I have returned to my job full time and am doing well at work. I am sleeping normally and have lost excess weight. I have been off all my medications since mid-August and have remained healthy and well. In addition, I saw my rheumatologist about a month ago, and my kidney function had returned to normal, and the protein level had decreased more than 50% without being on any immunosuppressive medications.

My journey through recovery has truly been miraculous. A few weeks ago, I met with one of the girls who was in the hospital with me, and she was still heavily sedated, weak, and on disability. My healing with Dr. Lee doesn’t just involve healing the brain, but my whole body, mind, and spirit. Through her work, I am able to get well and maintain my health without medications or their accompanying side effects. Most amazingly, my faith in medicine, and especially psychiatry, has been restored through Dr. Lee. I trust Dr. Lee – she truly cares about getting her patients well!

— Miriam W.

For the Rest of My Life – Getting Off Antipsychotic Medication Against All Odds

I am a 52 year-old woman who had been plagued with depression and had not been getting proper treatment from traditional doctors during three episodes in my lifetime. My last episode occurred June, 2006, and I was immediately prescribed an anti-psychotic medication by my internist. Subsequently, I was referred to a psychiatrist who increased the anti-psychotic dosage each week until I was stabilized.

One day I asked my physician, “How long do I have to be on this medication?” He replied, “For the rest of your life.” A red flag went up. My husband and I concurred it was time to find a new physician, preferably a holistic MD, who would treat the whole body and not just the symptoms. Because I was now experiencing many side affects associated with my anti-psychotic medication (800 mg at that time), such as weight gain, constipation, fatigue, and sluggish thinking, time was of the essence.

Dr. Alice Lee came to the forefront when I viewed her web site. May, 2007 was my first phone consultation, and I began treatment with her in June, 2007. The Nutritional and Health Analysis Summary was an eye opener for me. Little did I know that my gastrointestinal tract was unable to absorb food properly due to Leaky Gut Syndrome. Hence, certain foods had to be eliminated from my diet, i.e., wheat, dairy, and refined sugars. I also had toxicity issues, and my adrenal glands were not working optimally.

3) Educate patients so that they can maintain their mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing for the remainder of their lives.

Each week that I visited, I experienced more energy, my memory was clearer, my gastrointestinal system was working better, and my toxicity levels were decreasing. Dr. Lee was very pleased at how quickly I was able to reduce my medication. Because I was not only following her treatment plan each week, I was also introducing organic foods into my diet, exercising regularly, and educating myself about healthy choices. One of the most significant discoveries by my husband was a rice cooker that cooked rice to retain the amino acid, GABA. So Dr. Lee and I were working in tandem to speed up the recovery process.

By October, 2007 (within 4 months) I was free at last from 800 mgs of antipsychotic medication. My recovery was smooth, comfortable, and without any significant withdrawal symptoms. It was an amazing experience, because it was a testimony to me that nothing was impossible when one had the assistance of a highly qualified holistic physician, the support of family, and active involvement as a partner in the recovery process.

This story has not ended. Although, I have been off my medication for the past three months, I am still being followed carefully by Dr. Lee. I am grateful for all Dr. Lee has taught me and contributed to the field of holistic medicine.

After seeing the recovery in myself, I would recommend to anyone suffering from depression or mental illness and not happy with their doctor to seek alternative, holistic, natural medicine.

— Mary

Two Years Later and Still Medication Free–Healing from Bipolar Disorder with Psychosis

Recently, I had come back to Dr. Lee-Bloem, not because I was sick, but because I wanted to purchase some vitamins from her. I have given birth to a baby boy. He is 4 months of age now. I want to continue caring for my body even better, now that I have that little angel to care for. For almost 3 to 4 years I have been doing so well that I had not been taking any vitamins or medicine at all. Whenever I felt stressed, I would just do my energy medicine techniques, and it helped.

I have now realized how strong one can be, and how successful in many ways, with a little determination. I still remember those moments when I sat and cried for hours and hours and felt so miserable as well as my family. I tried to commit suicide many times, because I thought that I would never get better and that my life was over. There was also so much anger, resentment, pain, and hurt inside that it would trigger a manic attack. I also saw my dead mother on a few occasions. I used to see her in a black, ripped dress reaching towards me. This would get me so scared that I screamed and tried to run away from her and tried to hide from her. I now get chicken skin when I think of these thoughts. But nowadays, it seems just like a bad dream.

For a long time, I was not interested in getting any help. Once my parents (father and step-mother) realized that when a sick person does not want to get help, there is no miracle or medicine in this world that would get that person better unless they want to get better, that is when they finally gave up on me, or that was what I thought.

I finally decided to go to my homeland Honduras for vacation. I stayed there for 2 months. After that, I came back here and decided to get help in order to get better and decided that I was going to do whatever the doctor told me to do. I did it for just a few months, because after 5 or 6 months, I was doing so well that Dr. Lee-Bloem kept reducing my vitamins until I was taking just a few. After I stopped my treatment with her, and a few months had gone by, I stopped taking vitamins, because I was taking very few, since Dr. Lee-Bloem had reduced them dramatically due to my fast recovery. I was working a full time job and going to school full time too, and I was managing well.

Once in a while I joke with my stepmother about how stubborn and determined I was not to get better. I also ask her if she remembers how she struggled everyday just to get me to drink my vitamins and/or go to Dr. Lee-Bloem until finally she gave up on me, or that was what I thought, but now I know that I was just not ready.

I went back to taking vitamins during my recent pregnancy, because I wanted to have a healthy baby, and I did. I have now been married for 2 years and have my first born, and life is looking great. I am still taking 3 or 4 supplements for health purposes. For my bipolar disorder, I have the best medication, and it can not be purchased, and it’s called “determination.” I think that every human being has this medication in them. They just have to find it within them and use it, because it does miracles in whoever uses it.

— D.D. (Follow-up from the testimonial Bipolar But Not Budging, two years after stopping treatment.)

Carrying On With College: Healing From Schizophrenia

I have been consulting Dr. Lee for over three years now, since I left a psychiatric clinic where I was being treated for schizophrenia. Prior to my admittance I was a sub-average student at a large public university, with a zest for learning but increasingly no ability to control or manage my life. Now I am now a part-time student at a local university, getting respectable grades and learning to sing. What follows is the in-between phase.

In high school I was a “good student” who went to class, did his homework and was in a rock band called “CRISIS”. Everyone else, except my drummer, was keen to go far away to university, and I was no exception. What I didn’t realize at the time, and this was very important, was why I wanted to go. In high school there were social pressures, friendships made and broken, and life seemed to be becoming just one gig after the other. I was at school like everyone else, and yet I wasn’t there at all.

No surprise then, at university I found my academic direction turn into a dark curtain, clouding my path. I had many existential and religious thoughts and began to turn inward. I had “friends”, some real friends for a while, and I wrote for the college paper, but it was when I realized my lack of academic progress in science was directly in line with my “socializing”, including drinking beer regularly as a habit in my new “adulthood” that I saw the writing on the wall. After trying to run from the inevitable, I was taken by a firm hand to the psychiatric hospital by well-meaning souls at the university. I was put on my first antipsychotic drug and stayed three months in the hospital. I desperately wanted to go home. My parents were kind enough to take me back to help sort out this mess I’d gotten into.

Back home, I enrolled in an 18 month outpatient program through the local hospital. I was put on a different antipsychotic drug as well as an anti-depressant. This was then changed to yet another medication which was combined with a second one, so I was on two different antipsychotics. At one point I spent another two months in the local psychiatric hospital. During this time, I’d gained over 50 pounds. One day, about a year after I began the outpatient program, my parents took me to see Dr. Lee. I had nearly given up hope of enjoying a life without drug dependency, but Dr. Lee showed how I could move beyond prescription pills with energy medicine. I began to feel like a person again. She showed me the amazing depth and power of a person, that energy was not some buried treasure to follow blindly but accessible to everyone, you just had to know how to access it.

We did energy work every week. It was slow at first, but gradually the prescription drugs were able to be lowered, and instead I could use vitamins and food supplements. We had to repair the damage that was done to my liver, hormones and immune system. In addition to the supplements, I was practicing EFT and Infinite Intention Technique to try to reduce the need for antipsychotics. I have since lost 25 pounds, which has had the added effect of increasing my energy to exercise during the week. I am now off antipsychotics completely, and my toxicity has gone down to normal levels. During this period with Dr Lee, I embarked on Family Constellation Therapy with a different psychiatrist which was very helpful in coming to grips with what I call inter-generational trauma. I no longer have to carry that burden.

Today, I’m happily studying a little art history and international relations. I have made contact with friends I thought I’d lost and made some new ones. One of my emotional life-supports through this time has been music, and I’ve joined my church choir as a tenor, which has been a wonderful way of meeting people and shaping a talent that was buried in my illness. The best thing, though, is knowing that I have so much to learn: about music, about friendships, about history and about love.

— S.A.

Not Too Late: Getting Off Antipsychotic Medications

I am a 26 year old woman, who has been working with Dr. Lee since October, 2007.

I was first prescribed an antidepressant while attending a public university. People around me were concerned about my personality change, and this led to my appointment with a psychiatrist and a prescription for an antidepressant. I was so used to taking a tablet for an ailment that I complied. From there, things spiraled out of control with sleepless nights, intense energy, decreased appetite, and other odd behavior. I was taken to a hospital and forced to take more medication. I have no memory of my first week there.

For 5 years, I was searching for health. When prescribed antipsychotics, I experienced detrimental side effects such as weight gain, lethargy, and amenorrhea. I tried to stop taking these medications on my own, but it only led to a spiral of multiple hospitalizations, because stopping the drugs abruptly caused withdrawal symptoms that were misinterpreted as ‘symptoms of illness’.

To make a long story short — after years of pleading and seeing me ill, by the grace of God, my caring mother found alternative medical care through Dr. Lee.

Dr. Lee put me on a variety of supplements and implemented the practice of energy medicine. I had been hurt by doctors for so long that I could not trust anyone, and I doubted the treatment’s significance. But when I got home, I had no problem following the regimen, because I wanted most of all to be healthy.

Dr. Alice Lee-Bloem has given consideration to my vegan diet, in giving supplements that are vegetarian, or doing extra energy medicine to address specific needs that I had during treatment. Within weeks of taking supplements, I had more vital energy. After 10 months, as I took care of my health, I was able to gradually decrease the antipsychotic medication and was able to stop taking it. Slight withdrawal symptoms were soothed with prayerful meditation, energy medicine, and adjustments in supplements.

Learning specific tools for supporting a sound mind and body is essential for maintaining healthy living. I so enjoy each day, as I see myself grow and heal–doing positive things that I thought I could never do.

I give thanks to the Most High for this journey that has taught me so many important life lessons.

— A.O.

Hope

Our precious daughter, a college senior, suddenly displayed unusual behaviors while attending school. A visit to the doctor initiated the prescription of an anti-depressant. Three weeks later a hospital stay began the misery for us all.

Her illness was such a shock, and all we wanted was our vibrant daughter to be well, so we listened and heeded the doctor’s advise. We believed in the so called “expert” advice and the “modern” drugs – until the ugly system nearly took our daughter away with their forced drugging and addictive drugs. We were actually told that our daughter had not suffered enough to comply with their torture.

The Internet lead us to orthomolecular medicine, Dr. Abram Hoffer in particular.

Then by the grace of God, Dr. Alice Lee returned our desperate phone call. She listened compassionately and responded by sharing with us some of her experiences with nutritional supplements and how they were helpful in supporting the healing process in others.

Initially, in a pharmaceutical-drug confused state, our daughter was very tentative and hesitant about treatment. She was willing, however, to talk with Dr. Lee on the phone. Dr. Lee’s caring heart and compassion was evident in her voice. My daughter agreed to work with Dr. Lee that day.

Our daughter began on some nutritional supplements and noticed clear improvements in her mental health right away. Eight months later our daughter was drug free and healing. We see her enjoying each day. Her health has been given back to her, and peace of mind to us.

Being a religious person, all honor and glory for this answer to prayer goes to our Father in Heaven. And we give thanks for Dr. Alice Lee.

— F.O. (Mother of A.O.)

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